Advice and settings for photographing whales from a boat

[Wildlife Guy]

I will be in Alaska in a few weeks for a photography trip focused on whales, seals, eagles & glaciers in Glacier Bay. Can anyone provide general advice on photographing whales and settings for shooting from a boat (90').

David

 

[Chris R-UK]

I will be in Alaska in a few weeks for a photography trip focused on whales, seals, eagles & glaciers in Glacier Bay. Can anyone provide general advice on photographing whales and settings for shooting from a boat (90').

I haven't shot whales in Alaska but I have in British Columbia, Mexico and Hawaii from similar sized boats.

There isn't really anything special unless you are trying to shoot a breach - see below.

You don't need a particularly long lens since whales are big. Your 100-400mm should be fine.

You can use single shot focusing since the whales don't move much horizontally. I would probably use a central group of focus points just in case you see a breach. Maybe shoot at 3-5 fps if you are going to shoot tail fluking, lunge feeding or bubble feeding. Even breaches don't really require more than 5 fps. Whales move a lot slower than, say, a peregrine falcon. :-D

You don't need a really high shutter speed for most whale shots and 1/500 is fine unless you are shooting breaches when I would try to go to 1/1000+. If you are shooting groups of whales bubble feeding then you might want a decent depth of field so you may need to stop down.

I have tried using a CPL and found that it didn't do anything except take away light. On the other hand I have found it very useful to use polarizing sunglasses in certain situations, especially when dolphins are around the boat. It just enables you to see a little further under the water and gives you a fraction of a second more to spot a jump.

If you get a chance to shoot breaches then, unless you are lucky enough to find a whale doing a series of breaches, the biggest problem that you will have will be just getting the whale in the VF because the breach will come out of nowhere. So try to keep the camera up to your eyes as much as you can and try to get a position in the boat where you can scan through a wide angle. Adult breaches last 2-3 seconds so you don't need a high fps rate, just very fast reactions to get the camera on the whale and lots and lots of luck. Use single shot focusing and don't zoom in too far - you don't want to get the camera on a breach 100 yds from the boat and then find that you have cut off part of the whale's head. Shoot a bit wider and crop later if the whale is further away.

Resist the temptation to take hundreds of shots of whales surfacing to breathe or even tail flukes when they dive. You will find when you get back that you only need one or two tail fluke shots and probably only one of a whale's back for your album. Unless you are shooting in in very interesting light the shots that you are looking for are lunge feeding, bubble feeding and breaches.

I personally have rarely had problems with spray when shooting from a 90' boat but it would be worth taking some kind of rain sleeve (and possibly having a protective filter on the front of the lens) in case you get good shooting opportunities in rough seas.

That is all that I can think of for the moment. Hopefully somebody who has shot in Alaska will be able to give you more specific advice.

 

[Ken Gosden]

I will be in Alaska in a few weeks for a photography trip focused on whales, seals, eagles & glaciers in Glacier Bay. Can anyone provide general advice on photographing whales and settings for shooting from a boat (90').

David

Must be the Sea Wolf?

 

[bflood]

Chris R laid out a lot of good info.

A tripod won't be practical on the boat - takes up too much room and has a fatal flaw - it would always be in contact with the deck, and that's a bad thing. A monopod, OTOH, can be helpful if you are careful. If you want to use one, rest the bottom of the monopod on your foot, not on the deck. The boat's engine will not be shut off at any time during your cruise, so there will be engine vibrations transmitted through the deck to anything touching the deck. Your foot will provide enough insulation to absorb the vibration.

Don't get too absorbed in getting the whale's tail in a dive shot - getting a close shot of tail during a dive is a great shot, but be mindful also of the surroundings. Watch for opportunities to get shots of the tail out of the water with the surrounding area included.

Behavior: when a whale feeds, it dives deep. As an air-breathing mammal, it holds its breath for minutes in the process. When the whale returns to the surface, it will exhale HARD through its blowhole, creating a water spout that's the easiest way for the boat's crew to spot the whales. The whale then stays just under the surface for a few minutes, surfacing just enough to exhale and inhale through the blowhole. When it's ready to dive again, it will surface, usually rising a bit more in the water than the average "take-a-breath" move, and rotate toward vertical as it dives. This is what brings the tail out of the water. The whale isn't swimming at any impressive speed during all this - it surfaces intermittently to breath and then dives in more or less the same place - it moves very little. And the whale may return to the surface from a feeding dive fairly close to where it started the dive - if the whale is finding food down there, it won't be interested in swimming away from it.

Have a terrific time.

 

[Wildlife Guy]

I will be in Alaska in a few weeks for a photography trip focused on whales, seals, eagles & glaciers in Glacier Bay. Can anyone provide general advice on photographing whales and settings for shooting from a boat (90').

David

Must be the Sea Wolf?

Alaskan Story out of Juneau. This is a photo tour with a professional photographer.

 

[Ken Gosden]

I will be in Alaska in a few weeks for a photography trip focused on whales, seals, eagles & glaciers in Glacier Bay. Can anyone provide general advice on photographing whales and settings for shooting from a boat (90').

I haven't shot whales in Alaska but I have in British Columbia, Mexico and Hawaii from similar sized boats.

There isn't really anything special unless you are trying to shoot a breach - see below.

You don't need a particularly long lens since whales are big. Your 100-400mm should be fine.

You can use single shot focusing since the whales don't move much horizontally. I would probably use a central group of focus points just in case you see a breach. Maybe shoot at 3-5 fps if you are going to shoot tail fluking, lunge feeding or bubble feeding. Even breaches don't really require more than 5 fps. Whales move a lot slower than, say, a peregrine falcon. :-D

You don't need a really high shutter speed for most whale shots and 1/500 is fine unless you are shooting breaches when I would try to go to 1/1000+. If you are shooting groups of whales bubble feeding then you might want a decent depth of field so you may need to stop down.

I have tried using a CPL and found that it didn't do anything except take away light. On the other hand I have found it very useful to use polarizing sunglasses in certain situations, especially when dolphins are around the boat. It just enables you to see a little further under the water and gives you a fraction of a second more to spot a jump.

If you get a chance to shoot breaches then, unless you are lucky enough to find a whale doing a series of breaches, the biggest problem that you will have will be just getting the whale in the VF because the breach will come out of nowhere. So try to keep the camera up to your eyes as much as you can and try to get a position in the boat where you can scan through a wide angle. Adult breaches last 2-3 seconds so you don't need a high fps rate, just very fast reactions to get the camera on the whale and lots and lots of luck. Use single shot focusing and don't zoom in too far - you don't want to get the camera on a breach 100 yds from the boat and then find that you have cut off part of the whale's head. Shoot a bit wider and crop later if the whale is further away.

Resist the temptation to take hundreds of shots of whales surfacing to breathe or even tail flukes when they dive. You will find when you get back that you only need one or two tail fluke shots and probably only one of a whale's back for your album. Unless you are shooting in in very interesting light the shots that you are looking for are lunge feeding, bubble feeding and breaches.

I personally have rarely had problems with spray when shooting from a 90' boat but it would be worth taking some kind of rain sleeve (and possibly having a protective filter on the front of the lens) in case you get good shooting opportunities in rough seas.

That is all that I can think of for the moment. Hopefully somebody who has shot in Alaska will be able to give you more specific advice.

 

[Makinwaves123]

I was just on an Alaskan cruise last month. I'm still really new to photography. This was taken while the ship leaving college Fjord. There were lots of passing clouds so conditions were constantly changing. I was constantly scanning and changing settings as conditions changed so I'd be ready when an opportunity presented itself. Still not great but this was one of my better captures. I used a Nikon D7100 and a Tamron 150-600. I had a blast and will definitely be going back. Good Luck!!

 

[Wildlife Guy]

I will be in Alaska in a few weeks for a photography trip focused on whales, seals, eagles & glaciers in Glacier Bay. Can anyone provide general advice on photographing whales and settings for shooting from a boat (90').

I haven't shot whales in Alaska but I have in British Columbia, Mexico and Hawaii from similar sized boats.

There isn't really anything special unless you are trying to shoot a breach - see below.

You don't need a particularly long lens since whales are big. Your 100-400mm should be fine.

You can use single shot focusing since the whales don't move much horizontally. I would probably use a central group of focus points just in case you see a breach. Maybe shoot at 3-5 fps if you are going to shoot tail fluking, lunge feeding or bubble feeding. Even breaches don't really require more than 5 fps. Whales move a lot slower than, say, a peregrine falcon. :-D

You don't need a really high shutter speed for most whale shots and 1/500 is fine unless you are shooting breaches when I would try to go to 1/1000+. If you are shooting groups of whales bubble feeding then you might want a decent depth of field so you may need to stop down.

I have tried using a CPL and found that it didn't do anything except take away light. On the other hand I have found it very useful to use polarizing sunglasses in certain situations, especially when dolphins are around the boat. It just enables you to see a little further under the water and gives you a fraction of a second more to spot a jump.

If you get a chance to shoot breaches then, unless you are lucky enough to find a whale doing a series of breaches, the biggest problem that you will have will be just getting the whale in the VF because the breach will come out of nowhere. So try to keep the camera up to your eyes as much as you can and try to get a position in the boat where you can scan through a wide angle. Adult breaches last 2-3 seconds so you don't need a high fps rate, just very fast reactions to get the camera on the whale and lots and lots of luck. Use single shot focusing and don't zoom in too far - you don't want to get the camera on a breach 100 yds from the boat and then find that you have cut off part of the whale's head. Shoot a bit wider and crop later if the whale is further away.

Resist the temptation to take hundreds of shots of whales surfacing to breathe or even tail flukes when they dive. You will find when you get back that you only need one or two tail fluke shots and probably only one of a whale's back for your album. Unless you are shooting in in very interesting light the shots that you are looking for are lunge feeding, bubble feeding and breaches.

I personally have rarely had problems with spray when shooting from a 90' boat but it would be worth taking some kind of rain sleeve (and possibly having a protective filter on the front of the lens) in case you get good shooting opportunities in rough seas.

That is all that I can think of for the moment. Hopefully somebody who has shot in Alaska will be able to give you more specific advice.

 

[Wildlife Guy]

Thanks everyone, very helpful information.

 

[Michael Fritzen]

Hi,

from my whale watching on the southern brazilian coast I've learned that enough DOF can get into a real challenge when whales appear close to the boat. Same is true for the possible need for fast change of the FL from WA to longer tele range according the where whale action happens. So having one body for the tele range and another for the wider view is recommended. An option might be one of those 1"-type-sensor cams with their wide coverage (like the Sony RX10MIII or the Pany FZ1000) - at least when the lighting conditions allow staying in the low to middle ISO range.

 

[Chris R-UK]

Hi,

from my whale watching on the southern brazilian coast I've learned that enough DOF can get into a real challenge when whales appear close to the boat. Same is true for the possible need for fast change of the FL from WA to longer tele range according the where whale action happens. So having one body for the tele range and another for the wider view is recommended. An option might be one of those 1"-type-sensor cams with their wide coverage (like the Sony RX10MIII or the Pany FZ1000) - at least when the lighting conditions allow staying in the low to middle ISO range.

I took this at 28mm equivalent using a small waterproof P&S (not cropped) :



Close enough? :-D

I think that in Alaska the boats will not be allowed to approach within 100 yards of a whale, although the whales may approach a boat.

--
Chris R

 

[Paul B Jones]

From above:

"Same is true for the possible need for fast change of the FL from WA to longer tele range according the where whale action happens. So having one body for the tele range and another for the wider view is recommended."

That's about my only piece of advice too. Whales can be a long way away, and they can be very close. And anywhere in between!

I keep a 500mm on one body (for birds and distantish whales) and a 70-200mm on another (for closer work).

Here's one that was out a bit from the boat:


Foggy Whale





--
Paul B Jones

Paul Jones’s albums | Flickr

www.flickr.com

 

[GregWCIL]

I will respectfully disagree with a couple of previous posters who say to not take many shots of whale tails. While you don't probably need 10 frames per second, it is worth using some of your "free" mp to try to get a shot you really like. For example, I prefer finding one that has a nice curtain of water coming off the tail.

When you see a whale surface, you will soon find out there is a rhythm to when they dive deep and show their tale nicely. As I recall it was about every third time they surfaced.

If you can get as low as possible to the water, you will have a chance of getting something interesting in the backgroud which can help. That's not likely from the ship itself, but I bet you will have a chance to go out on zodiacs where you can be right on the water level. Perhaps you will get a whale photo with your main ship in the background.....or a glacier.

As others mentioned, it may come down to luck to catch a full breach.

Practice your bird-in-flight technique. Bald Eagles are everywhere in Alaska and if one flies over, you want your best effort to capture it.

Above all, take time to just soak in the enormity of Alaska.



















--
greglepper.zenfolio.com

 

[ScreenSaver]

Baja- Gray










Baja Gray




Baja Gray















I had the chance to photograph Gray Whales in Baja last year. My settings were kept pretty simple; P Mode, ISO 800, HSS and used 5 central cross hairs for quick(er) focusing on targets that may not give you a lot time to find with a single point. Used my 16-35 with a polarizer and when I thought I captured enough close ups one day the next day I'd use my 300 and take longer spy hopping shots. I also considered that I spent a lot of money to get there so taking more flukes ( or pics ) wasn't a problem to spend a few hours sorting.

 

[Chefski]

David,

You will enjoy this trip as you will get some encounters that you won't get from a larger vessel. Several of those that have responded to your posting have provided excellent advice. I will add a couple of thoughts from my experiences on 4 trips on a 70' motor vessel in Alaska:

1) I used a monopod set to be about 2 inches shorter than normal shooting height so I could look over it. When I was ready to capture images, I raised the camera & monopod to my eye and fired away using 5 fps. This allowed me to rest my arms between shots. I've also attached a single axis swivel head (to allow pivoting up and down) so I am not having to tilt the monopod. I've also tried resting the monopod on my shoe to dampen the vibrations but found it limited my mobility and balance -that is why I reverted to the method described above.

2) I tried a CPL but decided I lost too much light.

3) I parked my zoom lens at mid-range and kept reminding myself which I needed to twist it to zoom out or in. That was critical when a whale decided to breach close to the yacht and I had to zoom in to get all of it in the frame.

4) I elected to shoot in manual mode but would constantly spot check settings while pointed in the directions where I might be shooting. I use Sony a-mount so the EVF showed me the impact of my settings. Again, I kept reminding myself which wheel (front or back) controlled aperture and which shutter speed.

5) The temptation of capture whale blows and whale tails can be great - be selective.

6) I carried a separate camera for close range/wide angle images.

You can see examples of what I was able to capture and what settings I used by looking through some of my images here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoski/albums/72157660380912016/with/23371085216/

When will you be up there? My wife and I are headed up for a trip on Sep 2-8 also to Glacier Bay - we will be on the M/V Midnight SUN. Have fun!

 

[Wildlife Guy]

Some greatimages have been posted on this thread. I want to thank everyone for the very helpful information. I'm sure I'm going to have a great time in Alaska. I will post a follow up when I return.

David

 

[Wildlife Guy]

I want to thank everyone for their advice on photographing whales. Below are some photos from the tour I took in July. I had expert help on the boat, but the information was helpful in helping me prepare for the experience. We had a great trip and I have included some shots of otters, eagles, sea lions, etc. I will update with some of the things I learned on the trip. We were very fortunate in finding serial humpback breachers, lunge feeders, orcas, sea otters being sea otters, etc. Wonderful trip

Enjoy,

David

























































Make sure you checkout the "spot" in the whitewater above.

 

[Pixelweaver]

Fantastic images one and all David! Being south of the equator I can only dream of one day going to a place like this to do what you have done. If you don't mind me asking could you list the equipment you were using for these shots please. Excellent job once again and thanks very much for sharing.

 

[Chris R-UK]

David,

Thanks for coming back and posting these great shots, especially the massed lunge feeding. I did check out the spot in the white water

Will be interesting to hear any advice/tips that you have including which company you did the whale watching trips with.

 

[Ken Gosden]

Wow, David. Looks like you had great luck with the whales. The otters with crabs is a fun shot. Glad your week was a success. Glacier Bay on a small boat is so much more amazing than people would expect if they have only done the cruise ship version. Every time I see pictures like these I get the urge to return.